Next trip Freemans Waterhole and sugarloaf road October 17/18

[goldeneagle05]

OK boys and Girls next trip up for grabs is a Sat or Sun so u choose may be long day as biggish trip or lots to see and do.

[CraigB]

Hey mate where is it?
CraigB

[goldeneagle05]

Along f3 turn off to cessnock and your there, some call it awaba

[CraigB]

Ok Olly,
I'm good for this on the Saturday (for once!), bet everyone else can only do Sunday. I cant do this one on the Sunday. So, go with majority - Saturday I'm in, Sunday I'm out. Hilarious.

CraigB 0438 212 739

[vhdzine]

Saturday would be good for Sunday to recover...
V

[goldeneagle05]

I prefer saturday as early start for work on monday so saturday it is.

[CraigB]

Put me down on the list. BJA-22H.

CRB

[vhdzine]

Excellent! - I am in for the Saturday... hopefully a great trip like todays!

V

[azasjeep]

ill be in for this one as well ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[TRBN8R]

Thanks Olly for Ourimbah, can't wait for this one. Please count me in.

Cheers
Mani

[Flatfender]

Put My name down Olly - 99% certain.
Cheers
Ian W.

[D.K.]

Olly, can you put me down as a maybe at this stage?

[TRBN8R]

Hi Olly
Just enquiring about the time and the place to meet up on the 17th.

Cheers
Mani

[tonysrich]

What sort of grade trip is this likely to be?

[goldeneagle05]

Meeting at 9.00 am Freemans Drive just off F3 to left wait there as first track just there. Grading is a C with options for harder if wanting but not a hard trip.

[goldeneagle05]

This may work.

http://picasaweb.google.com/jackcharlieross/100_FUJI#

[Flatfender]

Thanks for a good day out Peter - and I got home in one piece too!
Must try not to fall over next time.
Cheers
Ian W.

[azasjeep]

After a slight hold up on the f3 and an emergency dash down the inside to fuel up I eventually made it to the meeting point just off the freeman's drive exit were the gang were waiting and ready to go.

The gang for todays run consisted of myself, the TRBN8R, Olly, Flatfender and D.K. Heading out for what we thought would be an uneventful easy day out for a play in the Sugarloaf, Freemans area things quickly got exciting (if you call a roll exciting). We headed to our first stop a play area commonly known as the Freemans or Awaba off road training area.

This first stop is a great opportunity for a play with ledges, mudholes and some short and steep climbs to test your mettle on. The TRBN8R led the charge up the first climb that had a decent sized drop off to the left hand side that he quickly discovered was more than a match for the JK's flex and traction control and discretion formed the better part of valor and he took a quick exit to the right and was safely at the top of the hill. Meanwhile DK could be heard giving the TJ some berries up some ledges to the far right of the playground as he made his way to the top of the hill.

While all this was going on the black TJ was having some fun bashing its way up the ledges and the JK defeating hill :) and just as i was coming down to the right I heard yelling and saw finger pointing looked around and saw this
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_PIdjF8nt8do/Stlds-8G3NI/AAAAAAAAAEU/LfXcv8lUlMY/s912/DSCF0470.JPG
Flatfender had got his Ford powered weapon of a jeep in a bit of a predicament and truly was only centimetres from what could have been disaster. So after a quick bit of this
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_PIdjF8nt8do/Stld3Isq8MI/AAAAAAAAAEc/HC4hpvB1xEo/s912/DSCF0472.JPG
We were back to playing like nothing had happened. As usual TRBN8R was eyeing off the mudhole and went in without hesitation.
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_PIdjF8nt8do/Stld6JtxzyI/AAAAAAAAAEg/ErP1OBZx7us/s912/DSCF0473.JPG
Prompting me to figure if he could do it so could the tj, Well i quickly found speed and water equals this
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_PIdjF8nt8do/StleButMuuI/AAAAAAAAAEo/EqXYJNC4PfY/s912/DSCF0475.JPG
stopped in the middle with an engine full of water whoops:) maybe time for that snorkel I never thought id need.
While my air filter dried out and i gave the engine bay a can of trusty WD40 the gang continued to play with everyone else making it through the water unscathed and having some fun in the area.

Once the TJ was back in action we decided to continue on our journey but i have to say if you are keen to have some fun in a reasonably safe area to test yourself and your jeep this was a great spot to visit.

We continued along to our next destination with a quick stop to cure some major death wobbles in my jeep, apparently 2-3 kilos of mud stuck in the beadlocks will shake a car to pieces. We crossed the main road and were into the sugarloaf area. Along the way we came across some fairly easy ledges that all conquered and after a quick bush mechanics repair to my overflow bottle (coke bottle and cable ties are awesome) we continued on to a nice downhill section with a small ledge with a decent pucker factor in the shortys until we found some big holes down the bottom of the hill had been blocked by logs :(

Never mind as we continued to explore the sugarloaf area we found a nice tankslapper style hole with a very steep exit, After I went through D.k decided to have a go but thought he better stop when he saw his flare sticking up perpendicular to the wall of the hole and reversed back out rather than risk panel damage. Luckily upon inspection it looked like this
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_PIdjF8nt8do/StleOMajsTI/AAAAAAAAAE4/nJmocmGqFqU/s912/DSCF0479.JPG
and will be an easy fix when he gets home.

So we carried on to the lookout area were there are a few ways to get to the top with everyone having a go and all successfully making it to the top we stopped for a chat and to admire the scenery. At this stop our conversation got a little macabre with skydivers being decapitated and a review of the final destination movies.

With people needing to get back home we called it a day and headed back to Freemans Waterhole to air up and grab some food (saw the food and changed our minds)

All in all it was a great day out with some great people and has well and truly reminded me why i bought a jeep in the first place, super capable, great people and always willing to help out. What was meant to be an easy day ended up with some danger, excitement and good times.

Hope everyone got home safe and no real damage was done

Thats my first trip report and I didnt take notes so i hope its ok, lesson learnt i will never be late again :)

Thanks all

[sbadman]

I see a front page picture going onto the next magazine from this trip ;)

[D.K.]

Nice trip report!
Looking at the pic of Flatfender makes me think its just as well it is a LHD vehicle - otherwise the center of gravity would be higher and....

[NT-Boy]

Nice trip report!
Looking at the pic of Flatfender makes me think its just as well it is a LHD vehicle - otherwise the center of gravity would be higher and....



I think the roll cage payed off!!! Never good to hear about things like that.

Good to hear Flatfender is A.O.K.

[TRBN8R]

Some pics from the trip

http://picasaweb.google.com/m/viewer#album/manmeet9574/5394986996048593441

cheers
Mani

[SteveC]

Mani I can not see any photos on this link - am I missing something?

[Maggie]

Mani I can not see any photos on this link - am I missing something?


i am missing it as well .. it only takes me to my own photos on picassa

Maggie

[TRBN8R]

Sorry guys wrong link. Posting the correct link now.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=manmeet9574&target=ALBUM&id=5394986996048593441&authkey=Gv1sRgCOumr--sw-j6xwE&feat=email

Cheers
Mani

[azasjeep]

love this pic

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_j735WVzXu6c/St7aN7ydJlI/AAAAAAAALmo/jnwbJVYDnVg/s720/IMG_8067.JPG

[AJ]

I hope you drove it Aza :P

[azasjeep]

You bet i did :)

[Flatfender]

That is a superb professional job you did on the trip report Aza - and how about the photos that Mani posted. Some great shots. I just need to delete a few before my better half spots them!
Thanks again Guys - especially Aza and Dave for the winching demo.
Cheers
Ian W.